


i don't care what's in your hair

by marchtothesea



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cruise Ships, Fluff, Homophobia, M/M, blah blah blah, josh works on a cruise ship, oh and i changed tylers familys names lol, remember when josh said he worked on a cruise ship??? well, tyler is a passenger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-05-31 19:34:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6484780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marchtothesea/pseuds/marchtothesea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Tyler knew anything about jewelry, he’s sure he’d be marveling at it all. But they're just a bunch of shiny rocks to him. And quite frankly, Tyler thinks there are lovelier things in this shop, like the pretty boy with a bright smile, coffee colored eyes, and cotton candy hair. </p><p>AKA, an AU where Josh works in the jewelry shop on a cruise ship and Tyler is definitely smitten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Yep. So, Tyler was officially stumped. He had been standing in the cruise ship’s jewelry store for about 30 minutes now, only ever moving to duck behind a plant if he thought he caught a glimpse of one of his family members. He couldn’t decide between purchasing the pearl earrings or the coral earrings, or the topaz pendant necklace or the pretty tanzanite one. Honestly he was so lost. He was looking at a necklace that had this cool swirly marble type of stone hanging from it when he was startled, and actually jumped (narrowly avoiding sending a bunch of jewelry worth more than his life savings tumbling down), when a friendly voice came from behind him. 

“Do you need any help?” a boy with bright brown eyes and soft pink hair looked at him quizzically. 

“Uh..” Tyler stammers, telling himself to contain yourself, be cool. “I’m just-“ the pink haired boy smiles and quirks an eyebrow.

“You’re just..?” his smile widens. Tyler pulls himself together.

“I just cant decide which one to get for my mom,” he scans the scene outside of the shop doors to make sure she’s nowhere in sight, “Her birthday’s this week.” he says as a response. 

“Well, the necklaces you’re looking at are the best, in all honesty. And your choices of earrings are nice… I guess.” pink haired boy shrugs. “You guess?!” he replies, trying not to sound offended, “What would be the better choice?” he looks down at the two earrings he’d been eyeing for so long now. He thought they were nice, surely his mom would think that too. Right? “I think the pearl ones are more versatile, but pearls can be tacky, if you ask me,” the pink haired boy stops and contemplates, “And the coral ones won’t go with everything, but they’re cute..ish.” he offers.

“ISH???” Tyler asks defeatedly. He definitely did not sign up to be picked at for what earrings he thought suitable for his mom. Nope. Just as he was about to look back up at this yet to be named pink haired boy, honestly, who did he think he was, a hand ghosts over his, “I’m only joking, I saw you staring lasers into these earrings for the past half hour so I decided to come over and see what’s up. They’re both nice choices, if you want I can show you some more that we have in the back, and ones that would match those necklaces a little better,” pink haired boy smiles up at him hopefully and extends a hand, “I’m Josh, by the way.” 

Tyler looks down at the extended hand, taking in all of this new information. He accepts the gesture and shakes his hand, “I’m Tyler, nice to meet you Josh,” he says, eyeing him warily. So, what he’s gathered from this is that he’s shit at picking out jewelry but the pretty pink haired shop boy — Josh — apparently knows what he’s talking about and that coral does not go with everything and pearls are quite tacky. He takes in a breath and exhales, “I’d love to see what else you have, um. Thanks. As you’ve already put together, I’m kind of shit at picking out jewelry,” he awkwardly laughs until he catches the hardened stare of a mom with her young daughter. Oops, no more cursing from now on. Josh watches the exchange and appears to hold back a laugh. “I’ll be right back,” he says with a wink as he walks away and through a door presumably leading to the inventory room. Tyler picks at the hem of his sleeve to try and pass the time, even though it’s been like 2 minutes (it feels like hours, especially with that mom, who keeps glaring at him, and her daughter still in the shop.) Josh returns with 6 boxes, all varying in size, balancing in his hands. 

“Whoa, I hope you know I’m not some sort of royalty who can afford all of this,” Tyler jokes (kind of) overwhelmed by everything. 

“I figured as much,” Josh replies, and hey, Tyler thinks, what’s that supposed to mean? “…which is why I didn’t get trigger happy and bring out diamonds on 14 karat gold chains,” Josh says as he opens each of the boxes. If Tyler knew anything about jewelry, he’s sure he’d be marveling at it all, but they're just a bunch of shiny rocks to him. And quite frankly, there are lovelier things in this shop, like the pretty boy with coffee colored eyes, a bright smile, and cotton candy hair. And whoa, where did that come from? 

“Do you like the Larimar stone? You’ve been staring at it really intensely and ignoring me, and everything else, for like 5 minutes.” Tyler’s awoken from his trance to find that yes, he has been staring at a cool looking blue stone. He looks up at Josh and frowns. 

“I- I don’t know where to start. Like I previously said,” he looks around the store to find them alone, “I’m absolute _shit_ at stuff like this,” emphasizing the word, “shit,” hoping to convey the message. Josh looks at him warmly, and gives him a reassuring smile. 

“Well, let’s see… Here,” he gestures at some swirly marble-like earrings, “these would match that necklace that you were looking at before,” Tyler nods. “And here," he gestures at two other boxes, “these match the other necklaces you were looking at. But, let me tell you about this one. The Larimar stone is a rare stone found only in the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean, it would be a perfectly fitting gift for your mom since you guys are in the Caribbean now, you know?” 

“Kind of like a token to remember this trip and all?” Tyler asks.

“Exactly,” Josh smiles and removes the necklace from the box, places it in Tyler’s hand. Tyler likes the look of it enough. It’s just a pretty blue stone. His mom does love this color though, so. While Tyler is fiddling with the necklace, Josh opens another box with matching earrings. 

“Whoa, whoa whoa. Hold it right there,” Tyler stares at him. “You said coral doesn’t match a lot of outfits and stuff,” Tyler flings his arm around to emphasize just that, “But you hand me blue earrings. _Blue_. What does blue match? Only other blue stuff. And like, white.” Tyler challenges him, because hey, this same guy criticized him for picking out colored earrings and he will not stand for it. 

“Au contraire, mon ami,” Josh says in a french accent and holy shit, _holyshit._ “This color is not just _blue_ … it’s a lovely shade of turquoise, and can serve as the stand out pieces in an outfit, the earrings and the necklace paired with a nice blouse and white capris. Or, with a more casual outfit, either way. They’re like, the staple pieces. Not some chea-” Josh’s voice falters, he looks around and lowers his voice to a whisper, “not some cheap coral, pal.” 

“Cheap?” Tyler whispers, “That coral cost like $200,” he says, and his brain hurts. Why are rocks so complicated. “Yeah, I just saved you from wasting that,” Josh smiles, “And anyways, the Larimar stone is much prettier— and like you said, it’s like a token of remembrance, your mom will see it and always think back to this trip, the Caribbean, and how her favorite son got her these exquisite pieces of jewelry.” 

“Uh huh,” Tyler squints at Josh, “Are you trying to scam me. Exactly how much are these together?” 

“No scamming here. I can give them to you for $350 total. And there’s no tax or anything, cause you’re on the ship.” Josh smiles. Tyler studies the pattern of stones on the necklace, the silver chain, and yes. They’re really nice. Truth be told, his mom would love them. He looks over at the earrings which are shaped like little rain drops and just sighs. “Okay, yeah. I like them.” 

“You sure?” Josh asks, and motions to the other boxes.

“Dude, you just convinced me to get them now you’re asking if I’m sure?” 

“Well, are you?” 

“Yes!! Ring me up. I have cash.” Tyler says, as he pulls out his wallet and thanks God he scored big at the casino yesterday. Tyler watches Josh scan the earrings box and remove the price tag. He catches a glimpse of it— $250, and that’s just for the earrings. Now that’s got his attention so he tries to sneak a glance at the necklace price tag, which is $500, holy— what in the hell is happening. He decides not to question it, because hey, he’s getting a good deal. He puts the cash on the counter as Josh finishes re-boxing and wrapping up the earrings and necklace, he even put a little bow on them. Josh gives him his change, looks up and smiles, “Is that all for today?” 

Yes it is thank you very much, now please stop smiling and being cute before I drown myself, Tyler thinks, because it’s just plain rude to be that damn endearing. 

“Yes, I’m pretty sure. Um. Thank you so much for your help, Josh! It was nice to meet you. S-see you around?” he stammers, and internally kicks himself. Josh literally works in this jewelry store. When will Tyler ever see him around, he’ll probably never set foot in there again. 

Josh laughs, “Yeah, no problem and you too. See you around,” he puts the boxes in a bag, along with the receipt and hands it to Tyler, who happily accepts it. He quickly walks out of the store (probably looking like a madman, but who would blame him) before he can say anything else that could be deemed stupid. 

—

Tyler might get lost on the way to his cabin, but um, who doesn’t get lost on a cruise ship. The long hallways are disorientating. He’s definitely not lost or distracted because he was thinking about the pretty boy who works in a jewelry store on a cruise ship and has cotton candy hair and coffee eyes and the most captivating laugh. Nope. Not at all. 

When he finally reaches the destination— a balcony suite (YES!) he slides the key in and opens the door to find his brother (NO!) sitting on the bed. It’s not like he didn’t assume Zach was rooming with him, it’s just, why couldn’t he room with Jake, his other brother. 

“What do you have?” Zach asks, suspiciously looking at Tyler who currently has the offending item (the jewelry store bag) hiding behind his back. 

“Nothing that would interest you,” Tyler says as he types in his code on the safe, shielding the numbers of the code from his brother’s view, and the bag, as he places it inside and locks it up. “Are you-” Tyler starts, before he’s interrupted. 

“No, I’m rooming with Jake. Don’t worry, you can do drugs and have sex in here all you want,” he winks suggestively, “I won’t tell mom.” 

“Then how’d you get in?” Tyler asks. Because he needs whatever force that allowed his nosy brother in to be eliminated. Immediately. “You gave mom a spare key and I stole it from her,” Zach quips, and Tyler breathes a sigh of relief, “So I came here to see if you wanted to play ping pong?” he looks up at Tyler hopefully.

“Sorry, Zach. I’ve got lots of things to do. Like avoid you and stuff my face with food.” (and by food he means the heavenly vanilla ice cream from the soft serve machines) Tyler smiles. Zach rolls his eyes and moves to get up. “Dinner’s at 7:30, at the fancy steak restaurant. Dress to impress or they won’t let you in. And mom would be mad.” Zach says as he heads out the door, throwing the spare room key at Tyler, “all yours. Be safe!” Tyler resists the urge to flick him off and just shuts the door behind him, locking it and soaking everything in. He gets this beautiful suite, with a balcony, all to himself for the next thirteen days. 

He started (but didn’t finish) unpacking yesterday, so everything is kind of unorganized right now, he sifts through a few drawers and picks out a pair of board shorts. He strips down and puts them on, feeling excited at the idea of tanning, in actual sunshine, because Ohio is dark and dreary and not the place you get to lay outside all day and tan. He plops down onto _his_ bed (well, his for the next two weeks) and contemplates where he should tan. The pool deck? It might be really loud. The VIP deck? (he gets access thanks to his suite) People might be too intimidating… or think he’s below them. Or something. His balcony? It’s small and there’s a covering so he wouldn’t get as much sun. He checks the time, 3:45 P.M., and sets an alarm for 7:00 P.M. on his phone, which otherwise renders useless because there’s no reception in the middle of the ocean (which he is low-key thankful for because two weeks without his phone, as horrifying as that concept may seem, will be good and maybe even help him relax and not think about work, or real life, or—he won’t go down that tunnel until he’s back at the port in 13 days.) He grabs suntan lotion, a towel, his phone, and a book then starts on his trek to the VIP deck, because why the hell not. When he gets there he immediately sees that same mother and her little girl, along with the little girl’s father (presumably) and makes a u-turn and heads to the pool deck. It is a little loud, but he luckily found a spot in-between a group of girls who were tanning and an older woman reading a book. He settled in, rubbed his lotion on, and fell asleep.

— 

3 hours later he wakes up a little tanner, a little redder (ouch), and tired. He heads back to the room to get dressed for dinner, a floral-y button up shirt and dressy pants (dressier than his typical skinny jeans.) He made sure his hair was just so and smiled at himself in the mirror, preparing for whatever hell may await him at dinner. Not that he didn’t love his family, but family dinners are typically hell. 

The restaurant is dim. Like, you can hardly see your food dim, which turns out to be good because then no one will see (or make fun of) his sunburn. His parents are talking and laughing, his sister, Mandy, is fighting over a roll with Zach and Jake (you’d think they were a bunch of toddlers, but who is Tyler to judge when he’s the one who victoriously stole his brothers rolls.) A photographer comes to their table and takes pictures of everyone, and everyone with everyone— which turns out to be a really long and taxing process when you have six people at the table. Tyler sees a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye and turns his head around so fast he almost gets whiplash. Simultaneously, the camera flash goes off. Tyler can’t wait to see what kind of crazed and desperate look he’ll be sporting in that family photo. That flash of pink turned out to be Josh’s hair, and he just stares, as nonchalantly as he possibly can, as Josh walks through the restaurant and into the kitchen, then about two minutes later he’s walking out of the kitchen, and out of the restaurant with a plate of steak. If Tyler got anything from this, it’s that Josh has a very nice ass (and enjoys a good meal.) He turns back to the table to see his family staring at him expectantly. All he can do is mumble out, “What?” and hope none of them caught on. His mom looked at him pointedly and said, “You looked away during our family picture,” and all he can do is say “I’m sorry,” as apologetically as possible. 

“Did you see that fag?” Zach whispers to Jake.

“The pink haired fairy? Yeah.” Jake laughs.

Volcanoes are erupting in Tyler’s head. 

Tyler turns to them, annoyed, “Why are you two such douchebags?” 

“None of this talk at the dinner table, please,” his mom says sternly. 

Everyone’s quiet for about five minutes till Mandy starts a discussion about the Bermuda triangle which eventually leads to a full on discussion about conspiracy theories. Everything is okay. Dinner ends, goodbyes and i love yous are exchanged, and everyone heads their separate ways (his parents to a show) (his brothers and sister to a party) (and himself back to his room.) 

Maybe he went out of his way to pass the jewelry store and maybe he’s a little disappointed to see Josh isn’t in sight and that it’s closed, but no one has to know that. Maybe he’s lucky Josh isn’t there to save himself from further embarrassment. Maybe he’s just telling himself that to hide his disappointment. There are a lot of maybes floating around in Tyler’s brain right now.

—

He arrives back to his room and decides to solve the mystery of the good deal he got today. $750 worth of jewelry for $350. He unlocks the safe and pulls the receipt out from the bag. He scans the little paper from the top to the bottom and makes two big discoveries. One: It says employee special, as in Josh gave him some sort of employee rate on the jewelry which is probably the nicest cutest thing ever, and. Two: Josh’s phone number, er, extension and how to reach his room phone (which according to his little note, redirects to his employee radio-cell-phone thingy) written really neatly and small, along with a smiley face and the most endearing message ever. 

_Hiii Tyler :)_

_It was nice to meet you today, um. I hope this isn’t too forward but you were really nice and funny and I’d love to talk to you more. If you maybe want to reach me you can call me from your stateroom phone, dial 001 then extension 5674. If you actually decide to call me for some reason and I don’t answer my room phone it’ll redirect to my radio which is always on me… so :)_  

_Josh_

He kept reading it over and over, a smile growing on his face and butterflies in his stomach. He tucked the receipt back into the bag and locked it up then literally skipped (and almost tripped) over to his bed. He then proceeded to roll over to his nightstand and grab the phone, fingers wavering over the keypad, then just thinking “what the hell,” and dialing 001 ext. 5674. His heart practically jumps out of his chest as it rings once, twice, then there’s a click on the other end of the line and… 

 —

“Hiii,” Josh drawls out. 

“Hii it’s Tyler,” Tyler says stupidly, not knowing what else to say. Huh. He didn’t really plan this out. 

“You got my note?!” he sounds excited, “I was scared you’d like, accidentally give it to your mom without looking at it. Or throw it away or something.”

“No way, I always keep the receipt.” Tyler says, kicking himself because…what even. Josh laughs, though, so one point for Tyler. 

“So, what um, are you doing anything tonight?” he asks, with what sounds like a hint of nervousness in his voice. Tyler bites his tongue to keep from shrieking.

“Nothing, actually. I’m just laying in bed right now, waiting for someone to rescue me from this dungeon.” Tyler replies in a mock whimsical tone. 

“Is your cabin that bad?” Josh laughs.

“Not really, it’s actually so nice. There’s a huge TV, a balcony, the bathroom’s really spacious, and the bed is _SO_ huge and comfy. I love it. But I’m so _lonely_. And _bored_.” he retorts with a pout. 

“If you want, if you want, there’s this movie playing at the outdoor theater tonight. Would that satisfy your boredom?” Josh offered. 

“Yeah, it’d satisfy my boredom, but I’d still be lonely,” Tyler teased. Josh giggled, _he literally giggled_ , and Tyler felt like his face was burning up. 

“Would you like to accompany me to the movie this evening?” Josh proposed, and giggled.

“Maybe,” Tyler hesitated for dramatic effect, “Will you bring me ice cream?” 

“Of course. Meet you there in 20?” Josh asked. Tyler could practically hear his smile. 

“Sounds good. P.S. I like vanilla with rainbow sprinkles,” Tyler says, and hangs up without giving Josh the chance to respond. 

 —

He squeals into his pillow. Not one of his most dignified moments but, um, he’s pretty sure he just scored a ?date? with one of the cutest people he’s ever met. He’s so excited he didn’t even think about what would happen if his family found out any of it. They don’t even know he’s not straight. He gets up and looks at himself in the mirror and scowls at the reflection. His face is even redder since that phone call. How embarrassing. He scavenges through his clothes and ends up picking a sweater and some sweatpants, hoping that it’s not too casual. It’s late, outdoors, on a cruise ship, and it’s only a movie, how dressy would you have to be? He practically skips out of his room and to the deck, knowing full well he’ll be there for about 15 minutes just waiting for Josh. He scans the available seats and chooses two that are somewhat secluded from normal view (in case his family were to show). They’re on the end, in the corner, and a few older couples are sitting a few seats over so he figures he’s safe. He sits and waits, watching people enter and get seats, waiting for Josh to be one of those people. He’s scared Josh isn’t going to show when he sees the familiar pink hair, but it’s mostly hidden under a beanie. He has his hands full with what looks like a blanket and, of course, the two ice creams. Josh looks around so Tyler gets up and waves at him, being a little over the top in attempt to a.) get his attention and b.) embarrass him. Josh spots him immediately and laughs as he heads up to where Tyler’s waiting. 

“Hii” Tyler says

“Hii,” Josh smiled warmly. Tyler feels all tingly inside. 

“Um,” Tyler grabs the blanket, “Let me help with this,” he sets it down on the chairs and picks up a little side table for their ice creams. Josh sets the ice creams down on the table and pulls the two lounge chairs so that they’re directly next to each other. Tyler settles down onto one chair, and Josh settles into the other, spreading the blanket over them and handing Tyler his ice-cream.

“Who knew you’d need a blanket in the Caribbean?” Tyler quips while eating a spoonful of ice-cream. 

Josh looks over at him and chuckles, “It’s _always_ cold at night, what would you think of me if I made you suffer in the cold?” Tyler sticks his tongue out in response, which is covered in ice cream and rainbow sprinkles. 

“Well, I’d be okay, because you remembered the sprinkles.” Tyler says through another mouthful of ice cream. Josh seems transfixed on Tyler’s mouth. Probably because Tyler’s trying to be as shamelessly sinful as he can when it comes to licking the cream off the spoon. 

“Of course, how could I forget?” Josh said, and ate some of his ice cream too, which looked to be cotton candy flavored. 

“So, what movie did you drag me out here to see,” Tyler asks with a deadpan look on his face. “I hope you like Star Wars.. It’s the new one,” Josh said, coming out more like a question than a statement. 

“Perfect!” Tyler exclaims, giving Josh a reassuring smile, “I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve been wanting to,” to which Josh responds with a thumbs up because his mouth is full. 

Tyler squirms around until he’s in the most comfortable position and leans his head on Josh’s shoulder. Josh looks down at him inquisitively and Tyler pouts and simply states, “I’m _COLD_ because of the ice cream _you_ gave me and _you’re big and warm and cozy_ and _RIGHT_ there, so.” And that’s that, Josh wraps an arm around Tyler to pull him in closer and the movie starts. 

Tyler learns six things within the course of the next two and a half hours.

1.) Oscar Isaac is a beautiful creature and Finn and Poe are terribly in love.

2.) Josh is the best cuddler in the world.

3.) Star Wars is not about stars having wars with each other, but about two families always stirring up trouble in the universe.

4.) Josh becomes really focused and bites his lip during intense scenes. Which Tyler finds totally cute.

5.) Action movies make Tyler really tired. 

6.) Josh gets super excited about Star Wars. He would explain everything that was going on in extreme detail to Tyler, and he’d do it with the most adorable expressions on his face, you could tell he loved it. Tyler kept asking Josh questions about the movie just to get him to explain it like that. In fact, he hardly paid attention to the movie because who, when in Josh’s presence, would even dare give anything but him their undivided attention?

Tyler thought the movie was alright, but the highlight of his night was Josh.

And he was upset when the movie ended. Not due to the sort of cliff hanger ending, but because it meant he’d probably have to say goodbye to Josh. He didn’t want to or attempt to move a muscle. He was too tired and wanted to stay snuggled up to Josh forever.

Josh squeezed his shoulder, “So, what’d you think?” 

“Loved it.” Tyler mumbled, burrowing into Josh’s shoulder.

“You know, I have to report for work at 7:00,” Josh says, with a hinge of disappointment in his voice. Tyler doesn’t move. He just lets out a whine in response. 

“I can walk you to your room?” Josh offers, and okay. Fine. Tyler reluctantly detaches himself from Josh’s side and smiles tiredly at him. Josh grabs the blanket and wraps it around Tyler, “C’mon, here we go,” he guides him to the elevator where Tyler mumbles his room number and hands Josh the key, leaning onto him for support, because he is just exhausted. Josh puts the keycard into the door upon arriving to Tyler’s suite. They waver in the doorway, both of them waiting for the other to make the first move. Tyler, still wrapped in Josh’s blanket, sways back and forth with the ship. He fumbles, and Josh reaches out to catch him, and soon one of his arms is around the small of Tyler’s back, and the other is cradling his neck, and yep. This is it. This is the moment. Tyler stands on his tiptoes and…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hii. if you're here it means you read all of this, so thanks. that, or you just scrolled to the bottom of the page. either way, thank you and i hoped you enjoyed it! (also, kudos and comments are really, really appreciated!!!)
> 
> P.S.  
> i have a few more chapters written already and will be updating soon.  
> and feel free to let me know if there are any blaring grammatical errors because i honestly whipped this out when i was half asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

A door across the hall opens, startling them apart. The moment was efficiently broken, and Tyler curses the universe while a very sunburnt woman looks at them apologetically and excuses herself as she exits her room and heads down the hall. Tyler coughs awkwardly and Josh giggles and then just laughs, full on tilting his head back (borderline cackling), and Tyler thinks this is what heaven must be like. If not, what’s even the point of it? And he follows suit, until some older man cracks his door open to yell at them, “Knock it off! People are trying to sleep,” Josh stills but Tyler remains snickering, even more so when the man mutters, “this is why I didn’t have kids,” and promptly slams his door. 

They’re just standing in Tyler’s doorway now, a silence falling over them. It’s not exactly awkward but, it’s not comfortable either. 

“Well, I, uh, better get going?” Josh stammers.

“Yeah, of course,” Tyler replies, hoping not to sound too disappointed. After all, Josh does have to report to work at like the crack of dawn, so he shouldn’t prevent him from getting a proper sleep and all. 

“Thanks for the, um, movie. And for tonight.” Tyler blushes, avoiding Josh’s gaze. 

“I’m glad you liked it. You better get to sleep, you look exhausted, uh. Goodnight, Tyler… See you around,” Josh winks and gives Tyler an awkward pat on the back before turning to leave. 

“Bye Josh,” Tyler hums back softly. 

He enters his room and plops onto the bed, not even bothering to undress. He falls asleep almost immediately. His dreams are filled with bright blue oceans, sun kissed skin, and a certain boy with coffee colored eyes and cotton candy hair. 

— 

Tyler awakens to find a beautiful view of Roatán, Honduras out his window. He sits out on his balcony, sipping on some freshly squeezed orange juice, courtesy of room service, and just admires the view. The ocean was crystal clear and the most beautiful shade of cerulean. It appeared to be shimmering. He got a little dizzy staring at it for too long. That was his cue to get up an prepare for a day of family and excursions. Upon arriving onto the ship, his mom had given everyone a schedule including what days to meet and where and when, before they parted their separate ways. Scheduled for today was breakfast at 8:30 in the buffet. Tyler shudders. They never make the bacon crispy enough in there. And following that they head onshore to go zip-lining and snorkeling. Tyler’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited. He puts on a pair of swim trunks, a tank top, and some flip-flops. He lathers himself in sunscreen (he promised himself he will not get sunburnt again) grabs his sunglasses, and heads out to the buffet. He does make a detour to the jewelry shop, only to find it closed because _they’re_ _in_ _port_ , according to a sign on the door. Tyler blinks once, twice, and then again because didn’t Josh say he had to work today? The shop is closed. Tyler felt a twinge of embarrassment. Was he so annoying that Josh had to lie about having to go into work early to get out of spending one more minute with him? That would explain the whole awkward back patting. Tyler sighed and turned around, remembering that he was supposed to be meeting his family in the buffet. He gathers his thoughts and starts to ponder which hallway would lead to the buffet when he spots a phone hanging on the wall. He goes over to it and promptly dials 001 and Josh’s extension. He hesitantly presses the enter button and waits as it rings. No answer. But, he does get prompted to leave a message _“after_ _the_ _beep!”_ so he does just that. 

Tyler inhales, counts to three, exhales, and then all in one breath leaves his message, trying not to sound like he’s affected by this whole situation: _“I thought you had work today but when I went by the jewelry shop it was closed. So why the hell did you lie?? Honestly if I was that annoying and/or ugly you could have just told me, okay. I can handle stuff like that. I’m NOT five years old, thankyouverymuch. Have a good day!”_ Tyler says sarcastically, and hangs up the phone, feeling better already. Although he notes that he managed to sound _very_ _affected and kind of hurt_ in his message, which is what he didn't want to do. Oh well, _technicalities_. 

He finds his family in the buffet and they feast. “They” meaning everyone except Tyler, because a lot of the food in there is not to his liking. Eventually he settles for some juice and room temperature pancakes, though. They nearly miss the bus to get to the zip-lining excursion, and Tyler laughs because he hasn’t seen his parents run that fast since, like, forever. 

—

Zip-lining is officially Tyler’s favorite thing to do. He doesn’t know how he survived his whole life without it, and he’s sure that if it was a sport he’d be the champion of it. After getting over his initial nerves, he had a blast. In fact, everyone did. Although his mom did get stuck on the line, which was hilarious, everyone was having so much fun. Snorkeling was a nice way to cool off after that, and Tyler might have gotten a little trigger happy with the underwater camera. Who wouldn’t want to take a million selfies with caribbean sea creatures, though? All in all, he had a really good day, and didn’t even think about Josh once. (Well, maybe that’s an understatement.) He didn’t even think about Josh more than six times. He definitely didn’t take pictures of a strange looking fish because it reminded him of that character from Star Wars and he wanted to show it to Josh. And he seriously didn't snap a few pictures of a weird looking creature with colors akin to Josh’s hair. Nope. Those events did not occur at all.

(Given how he usually obsesses over every little thing that could be interpreted as a mistake, he did really good today in pushing that stuff into the back corners of his mind.) 

—

He returns to his room that evening to find two voicemails on his phone. This should be good, he thinks, as he presses play and turns the speaker on. 

 _“Tyler? I did have work today, not at the shop though because they’re closed while we’re in port. I was working on the island, waiting on people, so.. I didn’t lie, I’m sorry that you—”_ muffled voices are in the background and then the message ends. Tyler presses play on the second one, and this time Josh sounds more hushed. 

 _“Tyler, I-,”_  there’s a pause,  _“You are not annoying nor ugly, get those notions out of your head immediately, please and thanks. And are you sure you’re not a little kid? Last time I checked you made me get you ice cream with rainbow sprinkles,”_ Josh forces a laugh out, and Tyler guesses that was his attempt at making the situation lighter,  _“So um, anyways, please call me back if you feel like it. I’m sorry, again, for the misunderstanding, so, yeah. Bye,”_  and the message ends. First of all, Tyler scoffs at that jab at him regarding his enjoyment of ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, because sprinkles were sent from heaven, and he will not tolerant _any_ sprinkle slander, no matter how cute the person saying such slander is. Second, he realizes that he messed up. Which kind of happens a lot because he tends to jump to conclusions and make assumptions and—yeah. He needs to apologize. He’s about to call Josh when there’s a knock on his door. He didn’t order room service so he quietly gets up and sneaks to the door, because who knows who could be lurking on the other side. He looks through the peephole and sees none other than a beanie clad Josh, and silently wonders why he wears beanies whenever he’s not working, because his hair is so nice- why would he cover it up? He opens the door, but doesn’t move so Josh can get in, instead blocking the doorway. 

“Hey,” Josh offers with a smile. 

“Hii, uh listen,” Tyler starts, “I’m sorry I kind of spewed all of that onto you earlier,” he says, twiddling with the hem of his shirt. 

“No worries,” Josh says nonchalantly, and grabs onto his hand and pulls gently, motioning Tyler to follow him, “C’mon hurry,” Josh shuts his door and looks back up at him with bright eyes, “The ship will be leaving soon and you don’t want to miss the sunset!” Tyler giggles and lets himself be swept away by Josh, both literally and metaphorically. 

Josh leads him, hands still interlocked, to the main deck where the railing is already lined with a bunch of other passengers wanting to see that same picturesque view. Oh shit. What if his family is up here? Tyler begins to search through the faces on the deck hoping not to come across any familiar ones when Josh, sensing his rigidness, motions to go up a level. Tyler nods, and they make their way up and Josh leads them through a few employee only doors to a smaller deck. No one else is on it, and Tyler’s kind of nervous. 

“Did you bring me here to kill me?” He eyes Josh suspiciously, but he still hasn’t let go of his hand, because, well, reasons. Josh scrunches his face up and Tyler thinks his heart actually skips a beat because that’s probably the cutest thing he’s ever witnessed. 

“Damn, you caught onto my plan,” Josh says with mock disappointment.

“You’re not slick,” Tyler lets go of his hand and goes over a spot he deems suitable to watch this so-called magnificent sunset. A moment later, Josh is standing next to him, most definitely not looking at the sunset. A few minutes pass in a comfortable silence. Well, somewhat comfortable. Josh is still staring and Tyler feels a bit like he’s under a microscope. 

“I feel like I’m under a microscope,” he teases, turning to Josh, who blushes and turns away, muttering a “Sorry, I kind of zoned out,” before staring increasingly hard at a buoy. Tyler rolls his eyes because he’s about done with all of this pussy footing around each other business. He wants, no _needs_ , Josh, to be touching him, or kissing him, or _something_ , like right now. He ignores the voice at the back of his mind telling him that he’s moving way _TooFastTooFastTooFast_  and that this is only temporary. He ignores it because another part of his mind, or maybe it’s his heart, tells him that _this is supposed to happen_ , that this is fate and the universe placed him and Josh here just so it could happen, so he needs to just relax and let everything fall into place. But unfortunately for the universe, Tyler is a bit impatient.  

“ _Jooosh_ ,” he whines. 

“ _Tylerrrrr_ ,” Josh mimics his tone. Rude.

“Just do it already,” he pouts, turning to Josh and crossing his arms. 

“Do what?” He asks, and Tyler responds with an exasperated sigh and rolls his eyes.

“You know exactly what,” he says accusatorially, because Josh was literally staring at his lips 5 minutes ago. Josh looks at him like he’s speaking gibberish and Tyler’s arms decide to pull Josh in without his brain letting them know that was okay. Josh is very close and very warm and looking slightly bewildered in Tyler’s arms. But he also looks flustered and _fond_ , which…. yes! Score 1 for Team Tyler. Tyler mentally cheers as Josh finally decides to take some initiative and wrap his arms around Tyler, then he leans in for the kiss, their mouths mere millimeters apart, when the ship's horn blares. Like actually _BLARES_. Tyler almost shit his pants. They’re so startled that they simultaneously jump apart and knock into each other. Don’t ask Tyler how it happened because he doesn’t know the answer to that himself. And he thinks he might have shrieked. He prays that he didn’t. Also, talk about that timing. The ship was quiet and still that whole time but as soon as they’re about to lock lips and essentially fulfill every single one of Tyler’s current wishes, the ship’s horn blasts, sending him shrieking and falling everywhere. _Thanks_ _a_ _lot,_ _God_. He supposes he should take that as a sign to just let everything fall into place slowly and blah blah blah, because look what his impatience just thrust upon him— a hurting head and a damaged ego, because judging by Josh’s cackling he definitely heard Tyler shriek. 

“Was that a…. hiccup?” he somehow manages to get that sentence out between fits of laughter.

“Shut up,” Tyler says, burying his face in his hands. 

He feels Josh wrap his arms around him from behind and he very much likes this concept. 

“I have tomorrow off,” he murmurs, lips ghosting over Tyler’s cheek. 

“Yeah?” is all Tyler can say because _sensory overload_. Josh’s stubble is rubbing against his cheek and he’s struggling to breathe.

“Yeah, can you _Belize_ it?” Josh jokes (as that’s where the ship is stopping tomorrow) and Tyler tries (and fails) to hold back laughter, because that was a really awful pun. 

“Well, in that case I’ll have to call in sick,” Tyler says, because he’d much rather spend the day with Josh than looking at Mayan ruins (sorry, Mom.) 

Josh hums in response and they just stand there watching the sun set and the island get tinier and tinier as the ship moves away, until it’s eventually just a dot on the horizon. They head back onto the main deck and get some soft serve ice-cream. Josh brings up the “hiccup” again and Tyler snatches away Josh’s cone and shoves as much of it as he can into his mouth, (which resulted in ice cream dripping everywhere) effectively shocking Josh, “ _Heeey_ , _that_ _was_ _mine_ ,” he pouted, and Tyler just licked his lips as innocently as possible, hoping he wasn’t giving away the fact that he was experiencing the worst brain freeze in all of humanity. That lead to an in-depth discussion on the ice age, which somehow lead to discussing the marvel movies in glorious detail (“I’m not saying _this_ just to say it, but Loki is by far the best villain in the MCU,” Tyler mused, to which Josh replied “Keep going, I’m close,” which resulted in Tyler further elaborating and the two of them laughing so hard their stomachs hurt.) They were the only people left on the deck when Josh reluctantly got up, because he “had to do some inventory and junk,” he gave Tyler a hug (at least it wasn't an awkward back pat) before they parted ways. Tyler got back to his cabin to find out he missed dinner, which his mom won’t be too thrilled about, but, hey, it adds to the whole “I’m sick” excuse. He calls her up and apologizes for missing dinner, mentions he’s not feeling well and would rather not go with them onshore tomorrow, and says I love you before hanging up. She sounded a bit concerned and yeah, Tyler felt a little guilty about it, but… Josh. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will they ever get to kiss???? stay tuned to find out.
> 
> but seriously,  
> thank you _so much_ for reading, i hope you enjoyed it??!! 
> 
> also, kudos and comments are really, really appreciated!! :)
> 
> thanks again.


	3. Chapter 3

Tyler didn’t know it was possible to be so enthusiastic this early in the morning. Josh had called and said he was on his way up. Upon hearing a knock he opens the door to find an enthusiastic Josh donning a baseball cap, a tank top (holy hell Josh has the most beautiful tattoo he’s ever seen in his life), and short neon yellow and black swim trunks which cause Tyler to black out for about 2 seconds. He quickly recovers though, thank God. 

“So,” Tyler looks down at his mom’s schedule, “…my family should already be on the island now, on some bus heading towards the Mayan ruins, so no worries on that front.”

“Alright,” Josh says cheerfully, then pulls his lips into a thin line, handing Tyler a baseball cap.

“What’s this for?” Tyler says as he places it on his head. Wearing a cap and sunglasses seems redundant. 

“Well, uh technically crew isn’t allowed to be… like hanging out with passengers so, uh it’s kind of,” he trails off. And Tyler understands, because it’s not like he isn’t sneaking around authority figures, too.

“Disguise incase anyone sees us?” Tyler replies and Josh shakes his head. Now it makes sense as to why Josh wears hats whenever they’re hanging out. 

“Precisely. Parent proof and co-worker proof,” he says very matter-of-factly. Tyler didn’t think a baseball cap could disguise someone that well but it’s better than nothing, right? 

“I feel like a teenager again with all this sneaking around,” Tyler confesses. Josh laughs in response and they’re off. 

—

After about 10 minutes of searching the beach (and taking a small detour to the beachside bar) they find the perfect spot. Or at least that’s what Josh calls it. And Tyler trusts his judgement. It’s further away from the activity but there are still people around them, so it’s not _too_ _quiet_. They set everything down and Tyler takes his shirt off, pulls his book out, and takes a sip of his lemonade. (Josh had opted for some beer and bought a bottle of wine for later because “ _I’m counting this as a date and wine is nice and I’m a walking cliche,_ ” to which Tyler (affectionately) rolled his eyes at.) Josh removes his shirt and starts spreading suntan lotion onto himself. Tyler quickly diverts his gaze and sets his towel down onto the sand, working a little too hard to make sure that there are absolutely no wrinkles or creases anywhere. He is definitely _not_ trying to distract himself from the fact that a very shirtless Josh is rubbing lotion all over his body. 

“Need any help there?” Josh asks, looking up and down between Tyler and his towel.

“No, I’m,” he points down at the towel, “just going to lie down and read now,” and flinches because of how weird he must sound. He’s just…flustered. 

“Suit yourself,” Josh smiles, and Tyler settles down to read his book and enjoy the warmth of the sun shining down on him. 

—

Tyler wakes up dazed and confused. He doesn’t even remember falling asleep. The beach is near empty. He says just as much aloud until he realizes he’s talking to no one. Josh isn’t there. He’s literally one of the only people left on this beach, and Josh is nowhere in sight. _Don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic_ is repeating in his head like a mantra. He looks up to see that yes, the ship has not left yet, which makes him relax a little. But he still doesn’t know where Josh is. He gets up frantically, practically falling on his ass in the process, and looks around for him. He's nowhere in sight. He goes down to the ocean and lets his toes sink into the damp sand while he focuses in on the people swimming. After a minute or two he spots a familiar head of pink hair pop out from below the surface of the water about 50 feet out. Josh turns around, spots him, and motions for Tyler to get in the water. He wades over, the refreshing water cooling him down, for the most part (he can't help the waves of heat that swirl through him whenever he's around Josh, _honest_.) 

Tyler catches himself gazing at Josh. He just can’t believe that he’s _real_. Josh’s hair is askew and he’s squinting happily at Tyler as he approaches and all Tyler can think about is how utterly kissable he looks. The only thing going through his mind right now is _kiss him kiss him kiss him kiss him now_. He decides that yes, he has to do this now because it’s just _perfect_. Before he can overthink it, his arms are around Josh and Josh’s hand is sliding into Tyler’s hair, his other curling around the back of his neck and they’re so, _so_ _close_ , and Tyler can’t possibly breathe with those eyes looking right into his. He feels like his thoughts are being examined, like his heart is a book that Josh is studying intently, he hates being so vulnerable, but he can't hide it. He knows his eyes are telling Josh _everything_ he's feeling right now because suddenly Josh is leaning in, and Tyler doesn’t think his heart could beat any faster, but then Josh’s lips are on his and he literally sees stars. Tyler feels like his breath is being stripped away (in the very best way possible.) Their lips are slotted together perfectly and Josh tastes like sea water and cheap wine and Tyler’s senses are going into overload. He can feel everything separately, but all at once. The water splashing up against his body, the sun's heat beating down on him, Josh’s hand curling into his hair, their tongues sliding together, and it’s all too much. They just stand there in the water kissing for what seems like eternity, only stopping to take short, quick breaths, because _breathing_ _is_ _not_ _a_ _priority_ _right_ _now,_ _thank_ _you_ _very_ _much_. He wishes he could live in this moment forever. 

Not long after, they have to break apart because they start giggling and can't stop. It's like they’re teenagers again. Josh looks utterly delighted and Tyler imagines he looks the same because there seems to be a permanent grin on his face. His cheeks hurt from smiling but he physically can’t stop. Josh looks down and pulls out Tyler’s underwater camera from his pocket, and before Tyler can react or even wonder how Josh got it, Josh is taking a picture of his smiling face. Tyler snatches the camera back and plants his lips on a surprised Josh and snaps a picture of the two of them, and then one of Josh’s brilliant beaming face (because Tyler has never seen a more beautiful smile, nevertheless one directed at him.)

Josh blushes, “that was…”

“…nice,” Tyler finishes, and Josh shakes his head in agreement. 

“10/10 would recommend.” Josh says casually, and Tyler has never felt so fond over anyone before. 

“Definitely. Five stars.” Tyler adds. 

They spend a few more minutes floating around in the water, taking pictures of it, the fish, coral, shells, and, of course, each other before heading back to the beach. Josh checks his watch and his eyes practically fly out of his head as he tells Tyler that the ship will be leaving soon. Like _very soon._ Tyler and Josh frantically grab their stuff and sprint to the boarding area, making it _“just in time”_ according to the employees who board them. 

—

They walk to Tyler’s room and plop down onto his bed, exhausted. Josh orders room service (pasta, _hell_ _yeah_ ) and Tyler flips through the channels to find something that won’t bore them to death. Much to his disappointment, cruise ships have very boring channels. Half of them are ship announcements and excursion advertisements. The other half are news networks and shitty tv shows. As a last resort, he’s about to give up and just go back to the channel playing Lord of The Rings (even though it’s pretty much just 3 and a half hours of suffering) when Josh stops him. 

“HEY,” he scrambles over to where Tyler’s laying. With a look of desperation in his face, he attempts to grab the remote from him, much to Tyler’s entertainment.

“Go back to that channel, please,” Josh asks.

“This one?” Tyler asks, unsure, as he changes the channel back.

“YES,” a smile growing on his face, and _wow_ , when is he not smiling? Tyler concludes this can’t be good for his health. He’ll flatline if Josh doesn’t stop being so cute right this instant. 

“It’s the X-Files, A.K.A the best show of the 20th century,” Josh continues.

“Oh yeah? Wanna watch it? Looks kinda boring,” Tyler says, amused. Josh turns and glares at him.

“No,” he deadpans. He takes the remote from Tyler so that he can’t change the channel, which, rude. It’s not like Tyler was going to turn it off anyways.

Josh is so engrossed in the show that when Tyler steals some of his pasta Josh doesn’t notice until it’s too late. 

“You snooze, you lose,” Tyler says unapologetically as he steals another bite. Josh hardens his stare at him and attempts to shield his pasta from any further invasions. Key word: _Attempts_. Tyler has eaten half of his pasta when Josh turns to him, pouting his lips. Tyler wants to kiss the pout right off his face. So he does. (He also orders another plate of pasta for him.) The rest of their evening is spent (more or less) watching the X-Files, drinking wine, cuddling, and having impromptu make out sessions. Tyler wouldn’t want it any other way. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for all of the fluff ????  
> but hey at least they finally got that kiss
> 
> thank you all so much for reading!! i hope you're liking it so far because there's a lot more to come. thanks for all the kudos and your comments, too! it's nice to know people are even reading this, haha. :) i promise the next chapter is not as short and sweet as this one (interpret as you will) 
> 
> also, kudos and comments are really appreciated!! :)  
> hope you all have a lovely day! thanks again. 
> 
> p.s. i was tylerr- i changed my username.


	4. Chapter 4

Tyler wakes up with a note on his pillow. 

_Not to sound creepy…. but you’re so cute when you sleep. Have a good day today. Try not to kill your family._

_Josh :)_

Josh left late last night, but Tyler had fallen asleep a few episodes in so he didn't get to say goodbye. Tyler smiled to himself remembering everything. He was such a teenager, honestly. He can’t remember the last time he felt like this. Was he concerned with how much he liked Josh after only a few days? Maybe. Tyler usually likes to go slow with things and he’s already kissed him. _A_ _lot_. He’s the second guy Tyler’s ever kissed (when you grow up surrounded by homophobes it’s a little hard to get away with anything) and last time it took him 6 months to even get to that point without feeling too guilty. But now it’s different. It’s summer, he’s on a vacation, and a cute boy with cotton candy hair wants to kiss Tyler just as much as he wants to kiss him. The universe thrusted this beautiful boy into his face so why wouldn’t he fire back with equal vigor? If everything feels right why tiptoe around it? Also, _YOLO_ , as his ex girlfriend would say, and Tyler cringes for even letting such an annoying and overused term sneak into his line of consciousness. He could practically feel himself losing braincells. Look what he's become. And all because he's absolutely smitten with Josh. He rolls over and scans the items on his nightstand and smiles at the fact that there’s one less room key. Last night Tyler gave Josh his extra room key so that he could pop in whenever he wasn’t busy doing his, as Josh put it, “ _important_ _cruise_ _ship_ _duties_ ,” to which Tyler responded with a roll of his eyes and a peck on the cheek. He finds the schedule he’s looking for (who knew how many different cruise schedules and announcements and brochures could pile up after a few days.) Today the ship is docked in Cozumel. Tyler can’t skip out on his family again, so he packs up everything he needs in a drawstring bag and goes to meet them at the buffet. 

The day in Cozumel was spent doing this wild sight seeing amazing race-esque scavenger hunt. Tyler was a bit apprehensive at first, because it sounded like it’d be either really boring or super cheesy sort of activities aimed at twelve year olds. Luckily, it was neither. It was basically Tyler’s family against three other groups of people who were all rushing to figure out clues or solve riddles at various historical or attraction sites around Cozumel, and it was some of the most fun he’s ever had. They got to snorkel in the middle of it, and ate the most delicious food after. (Tyler couldn’t stop thinking about how fun it would be if Josh was there for this too.) They went to the beach follwing that and Tyler watched with great amusement as a some little kids decided to help Zach and Mandy bury Jake. On the way back to the ship they passed by a customizable bracelet stand and Tyler got one that said spooky. No one questioned it (out loud at least) and everyone else got one too. All in all, today was a good day. It’s days like these that Tyler cherishes. He really loves his family.

—

Zach was panicking.

They were back onboard the ship and it was about to leave when Zach realized his favorite pair of sunglasses were missing. Which resulted in him swiftly going into what the Joseph family coined a “Zach Attack,” aka, him annoying everyone until whatever problem he stumbled into was solved. 

“It's seriously so messy in here,” Tyler cringes at the sight in front of him. Everyone has been in Jake and Zach's room for the last 30 minutes because Zach thinks he lost his most prized sunglasses and he's not sure if he left it on one of the islands or what. So naturally he enlisted the entire Joseph family to help in the search for it. The state of their cabin wasn't making it any easier. 

“Bro, I'm sure yours is just as bad, if not worse,” Jake rolls his eyes and hurls a sock at him. Rude. 

“It's not, and it doesn't reek of B.O. either,” Tyler snorts, as he throws the grungy sock back at him.

“Well, we wouldn't know, you stole the extra key and have been a recluse for the last few days.” His mom puts her hands on her hips, eyeing him suspiciously. Which... Why? It's been like four days. How did she even deal when he moved out. 

“C'mon, I wanna see your suite.” Mandy whines, and okay. It's not like she doesn't have the exact same room but whatever. 

“Yeah Tyler, we wanna make sure that it's not a pigsty in there.” His dad adds in with a laugh. 

Tyler slumps his shoulders, “Alright. Okay, come on. I don't see what all the fuss is about, we all have the exact same suite,” he sighs defeatedly. This is the peer pressure he was warned about when he was a kid. 

“You guys?!” Zach says, annoyed, “What about my sunglasses?”

“No one cares, Z,” Jake says, rummaging through a pile of souvenirs. 

“We'll help later, honey,” his mom offers as Tyler attempts to sneak out the door because he doesn't have time for this, _really_. He hopes no one notices him slipping out but sure enough Mandy is right on his tail, and his parents are following close behind. 

“So can we see your room?” Mandy asks excitedly, and Tyler tries his best not to roll his eyes. 

He motions at them to follow him and they head to his room, which isn’t too far from his brothers’ suite. He makes sure to stay ahead of them so he can hide the note and anything else that could be deemed incriminating before they enter. He opens his door and immediately sees an evidently startled Josh lying on his bed with a bouquet of flowers resting next to him. Tyler would literally _melt_ if his mind wasn’t going _SHITSHITSHITSHIT_ at that very moment. Josh looks up with a smile. He sticks his head into the room, throws Josh an alarmed look and mouths _“PARENTS”_ then promptly shuts the door right as Mandy catches up to him. 

Mandy looks curiously between a very red Tyler and the door. 

“What, are you hiding someone in there?” She jokes. Tyler laughs at the irony of it. 

"Actually, um, according to the clock it's Happy Hour at the VIP deck and I really want something," Tyler winces at his pathetic excuse. It really makes him look like he's hiding something. Mandy frowns and makes a swipe at his key, which he holds up over his head. His parents look between them expectantly. 

There’s a beautiful boy waiting for him in his room while his homophobic family is right outside of it, waiting to get in. Only this would happen to Tyler. He wishes he could sink right into the floor.

"That's a pretty dumb excuse, Tyler, are you hiding drugs in there or something? Seriously," Mandy says. 

“No, what do you take me for?? And, it’s not an excuse, fresh squeezed juices are half price right now and they’re normally so expensive. I need some, Mandy,” he clicks his tongue, “ _Seriously_.” 

His mom eyes him skeptically and dammit he’s so screwed because moms _always_ know. He hopes Josh hid in the closet or something because things aren’t leaning towards his side right now. 

“Oh I could go for that apple juice. It’s so much better freshly squeezed,” Mandy contemplates, and Tyler silently prays.

God must’ve been listening because his parents decided that happy hour drinks sound like a good idea, too, and they go to get some. After sitting around, conversing with his family, and sipping his drink for a few minutes Tyler excuses himself to go to the bathroom and wanders off in hopes of finding a phone to call Josh and tell him that he’ll be right back (because Josh on his bed with a literal bouquet of flowers means Christmas must’ve come early.) He dials his room and Josh picks up. Tyler’s so glad he’s still there. 

“Sorry about that,” Tyler rushes out.

“S’okay,” Josh replies, “I’m lonelyyyyy,” he whines, “When will you be back?” 

Tyler can practically hear his pout over the phone.

“Just a few,” he pauses, thinking, “but I gots to go,” Tyler quips as soon as he spots his parents.

“Okay, see you soon,” Josh says cheerily and Tyler smiles and hangs up, feeling embarrassed and dumb when he remembers Josh can’t see his smile. Pull it together, Joseph, he thinks. 

“Room service is calling me,” he says dreamily to his approaching parents, “So I must bid you farewell,” Tyler dramatically waves and starts to leave, stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. How dare this happen to him when Josh is oh so patiently waiting for him…in his room…with flowers… He turns around to see his dad, deadpanning. 

“Not so fast,” he says to Tyler. 

“Okay?” Tyler asks because he really wants to be let go now, “I have people to do and things to see,” Tyler urges, pulling his arm out of his father’s grasp. 

“People to do?” Mandy laughs while Tyler is dying inside because he didn’t mean to say that, _really_.

“We got tickets for a show at 10, don’t be late,” he says, and Tyler nods then practically sprints back to his room. Well, he doesn't exactly sprint, it’s more like extreme speed-walking. 

—

He locks the door upon entering the room because _better safe than sorry_ when you’re dealing with this family. Josh is lying on the bed, still, and smiles at Tyler as he moves to sit up. The balcony doors are open, revealing a beautiful sunset and Tyler thinks that yes, this moment couldn’t get any lovelier. 

“Brought you these,” Josh says bashfully, handing Tyler the roses.

“I love them,” Tyler responds, not holding back his smile.

“I'm sorry, I, uh, I know roses are like _cheesy_ and _typical_ but it’s all the ship has, and we can’t really bring plants from the ports onboard so…” Josh rambles. Tyler sits down beside him and plants his lips on his to shut him up. He will not stand for any of this. He's literally apologizing for bringing him flowers. Tyler wants to give him a million kisses and remove any sense of doubt from his mind.

“Hey,” he sets the roses on his nightstand, “ _I love them_ ,” he assures Josh as he turns to face him. Tyler crawls onto Josh and straddles his lap, stomach curling with _want_. He pulls him even closer, wrapping his arms around Josh’s neck. Tyler’s heart practically jumps out of his chest as Josh kisses him gently. He wonders if he’ll ever not implode whenever he’s around Josh. Tyler kisses him with intent, and any trace of the tender kiss from a minute ago is gone as Josh kisses back with just as much fervor. Josh slides his hands over Tyler’s thighs and around to his ass.

“Shirt. Off.” Tyler murmurs pulling at the fabric that’s currently separating him from Josh’s skin.

“Oh right,” Josh says, flustered, as he pulls off his shirt and Tyler does the same. Josh trails his hands up Tyler’s back, sending shivers down his spine. He’s never felt so electric in his life and he’s so, so desperate for _more_. He directs his attention to Josh’s bare chest and sucks a bruise into his collarbone. Josh inhales sharply and Tyler leans up to connect their lips again. Tyler curls his hands into Josh’s hair and deepens the kiss, subsequently grinding their hips together and eliciting a moan from Josh. Josh’s hands tug at the fly of his jeans and Tyler freezes. He’s hasn’t done anything with a guy before besides kissing. He doesn’t even know much about what guys even… _do_. He’s never been able to explore into that realm, unless you could secretly watching gay porn when he was a teenager (which always ended in him crying and praying for forgiveness, so…he tries to repress those memories. _Ah, the wonders of adolescence._ ) He has absolutely no experience, he’s received blowjobs but hasn’t ever given one, and the idea of a dick going in his mouth (or into his ass for that matter) is kind of scary. But maybe not Josh’s dick. He’d very much be open to that. ~~Pun~~ ~~intended~~ _._ Josh must notice Tyler’s unease because he removes his hand and leans back, looking up at Tyler. 

“We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” he says reassuringly, Tyler just squeaks in response because he can literally feel Josh’s bulge against his ass. 

“It’s,” he hesitates, unsure of how to word this so he doesn't sound like an absolute loser, “I just don’t have um, I haven’t done anything,” and he’s panicking because he really doesn’t know what to say but he’s already said too much to stop, “I’m—I haven’t really ever done _anything_ ever…with a guy,” Tyler mumbles, avoiding eye contact. 

“Tyler,” Josh lifts his chin up, cupping his cheek, “It’s okay. That’s totally okay, _please_ don't feel bad about it. We don’t have to do anything. Don’t feel obligated to or, whatever.” 

“But I _want_ to do things,” Tyler huffs, pushing his bottom lip out into a pout. Josh leans forward and kisses Tyler softly, murmuring _“another time,”_ against his lips. And Tyler’s okay with that. 

—

Long after Josh departed, he’s opening up the laptop he didn’t think he’d be using and connecting to the ships wifi. _Which he has to pay for by the minute_. He promptly pulls up google and types in _gay sex_ , instantly blushing at the results, most of which are porn sites. Those have obviously rendered him helpless, plus he can’t afford to watch long videos so he changes his search to _how to have gay sex_ and prays that no one ever finds out he did this. He clicks the first result and tries to take all of this information in. It's a bit overwhelming and it's causing him to squirm. A problem arises when he realizes he doesn't know if he’s a top or a bottom. He thinks intently about it for a few minutes before getting an idea and going onto buzzfeed, because buzzfeed solves everything. He opens up a buzzfeed quiz to ultimately decide his fate, though realizes halfway through that he’s submissive as hell and why is he even wasting his time on such a foolish quiz when he has more pressing things to deal with… Like the art of giving a blowjob and not choking to death. He spends approximately 60 minutes surfing the deep web for anything that could aid him in the gay sex department (example: ass eating really makes guys go crazy, but you’d have to give Tyler a million dollars to consider doing that.) Also, who knew how many wondrous things the tongue could do? Tyler sure didn’t, but now his mind is full of eye watering and come-inducing tips and tricks. _And_ _he_ _can’t_ _wait_ _to_ _test_ _them_ _out_ _on_ _Josh._  

He checks his watch, and it’s 5 minutes to 10, _shit_ , he urgently shuts his laptop and throws on a semi-formal outfit. He leaves the room knowing more about male anatomy than he ever thought existed, slightly flustered, and $40 poorer. He hopes it’ll be worth it. He greets his family at the theater like he hadn’t just been mentally taking notes on the most effective ways to stimulate the prostate, and they grab their seats and settle down to watch a magic show that turned out to be pretty good. Although, Tyler couldn’t tell you _too_ _much_ about it because he was busy thinking about the possibility of Josh’s fingers up his ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay in update, school's been kicking my ass. but i'll hopefully be updating again this weekend!! thanks for all your comments and kudos, they really mean a lot to me :) i love you guys.
> 
> thank you all so much for reading :) i reallly hope you're enjoying it so far!! 
> 
> and yes, an hour of wifi on a cruise ship really costs around $40. the things fic!tyler will do for josh. 
> 
> also, kudos and comments are really appreciated.  
> hope you all have a lovely day! thanks again.


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